1,500 Orthodox figures support Mirvis in LSJS row over female rabbi
AROUND 1,500 Orthodox figures have signed a letter in support of Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis over his position on a newly ordained female rabbi who was dropped from her teaching role at the London School of Jewish Studies.
Rabba Dr Lindsey Taylor-Guthartz was removed from LSJS – whose president is Rabbi Mirvis – after she received ordination from Yeshivat Maharat, a New York-based institution that runs Orthodox courses of Torah study but offers ordination to women.
The letter, organised by the US-based Coalition for Jewish Values, praised the Chief Rabbi for “maintaining Torah standards in Jewish education in the face of pressure from progressive activists”.
However, it mistakenly claimed that Rabbi Mirvis had “dismissed” Dr Taylor Guthartz after she received ordination.
In a statement alongside the letter, Rabbi Pesach Lerner, the CJV president, deplored Yeshivat Maharat, which he said was affiliated with the “Open Orthodoxy” movement. He insisted: “Open Orthodoxy is not Orthodox, and that reality will not change, no matter how much the ideological movement and its allied, progressive media outlets and activists claim otherwise.” In its letter to Rabbi Mirvis, the CJV wrote: “No Orthodox rabbis have officiated at samesex weddings, have ordained women, or have ‘revisited’ whether the Torah was given by God to Moses.
“No Orthodox rabbi ever shall, and any reports to the contrary serve no purpose other than to misrepresent authentic Torah Judaism.” Rabbi Avrohom Gardiner, director of the CJV’s “Rabbinic Circle”, said: “No one can blame the Chief Rabbi, the US, or CJV for ‘rejecting’ Open Orthodoxy. Open Orthodoxy fails to meet the neutral and objective standards for practice and belief found in Torah, Talmud, and Jewish law.”
No one can blame the Chief Rabbi for rejecting Open Orthodoxy’